Brigantinoi (Celtiberian Champions)
Brigantinoi Champions form the first line of battle in the celtiberian armies, fighting with great ferocity and skill. Description 'Princes' The first into battle, last the leave the fray, the bravest of the brave. With the strength of a bull, the ferocity of a wolf and the agility of a lynx, these men are without par among the ranks of the Areuakoi warriors. They stand as giants in their community, the envy of lesser men, the dreams of maidens and the idols of children. It is these men upon whose shoulders the honour of the Areuakoi rests, and they seldom fail to live up to their reputations. Hailing from the nobles of Areuakoi society, these men are unaccustomed to sweat behind the plough or bake their own bread. Instead, they live off the labour of others, perfecting their deadly art, practising their skills from sunrise to sunset. Their wealth also allows them to equip themselves with the finest arms and armour the smith can produce. Donning a well made bronze helmet which projects a plume of horse hair, wielding a terrifying "Spanish sword" beaten from the best iron in Iberia, grasping a beautifully decorated iron bossed shield, and clad in bronze armour and fine woollen battle garments, these men present an awesome sight on the battlefield. Their élan ensures that no man will shirk from his duty but will instead commit to the fight with the energy of an enraged bear. Historically, warriors such as the Areuakoi Brigantinoi appear to have had a very old pedigree within Keltiberoi society. Warrior elites are present in the funerary record of Celtiberia from the Bronze Age, and would have been a catalyst in transforming the indigenous Bronze Age substratum into the Keltiberoi society of the Iron Age. Due to the low social complexity of late Bronze Age society, warfare would have been seasonal, likely ritualised and probably settled by duels between "champions" similar to the Brigantinoi. It is theorised, based on the etymology of the names of Keltiberoi gods, that such champions would have belonged to warrior fraternities, initiation thereinto requiring the completion of acts of physical endurance and religious ceremonies. Such fraternities are recorded as having existed in societies as those of the Dorian Greeks, Gauls, Scythians and Dark Age Irish, among others. As the proto-Celtiberian society of the late Bronze Age transformed into the early Keltiberoi society of the 7th-6th centuries BC, the funerary record of the Keltiberoi homeland attests to the increasingly prominent role that warriors such as these played in society. The weapon of choice for these early Keltiberoi champions was a long spear, likely intended for use as an infantry weapon, a theory which based on the lack of horse harnesses recovered from graves. Keltiberoi champions began to equip themselves in the way they are depicted in EBII from the 5th century BC onwards; cemeteries from the area of the upper Tagus river have been excavated containing bronze helmets, bronze cuirass discs and embossed shield umbos. The formidable slashing sword of the type this unit uses was likewise adopted by Celtiberian warriors during the 5th century. The high regard with which the owners of such swords were held in society can be seen in the sculptures from the contemporary Iberian haroon (hero cult shrines) at Porcuna. As the armies of the Keltiberoi expanded with the emergence of oppida, champions such as the Brigantinoi became a minority within the ranks of warriors. Despite this, duels between champions appear to have remained an important feature of Keltiberoi warfare, as evidenced by the tale of Scipio Aemelianus and a Keltiberoi noble engaging in single combat in 151 BC. Ceramics from the final stages of occupation of Numantia also show warriors similar to the Brigantinoi engaging in single combat with other, comparably equipped, foes. Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Arevaci